CEO (H/F)

Société digitale des Eaux de Wallonie (Digit'Eaux) is looking for a Chief Executive Officer.

Following Digit'Eaux's launch and start-up phase, the CEO's mission will be to consolidate its achievements, diversify and extend its services, and position the company at the heart of the digital transformation of the water sector in Wallonia.
Working closely with the Board of Directors (BOD), the CEO will play a key role in the execution of the overall strategy, while at the same time being a force for innovative proposals thanks to his in-depth knowledge of business needs and IT orientations.
The CEO must be able to combine strategic vision with operational involvement. This means adopting a “hands-on” approach, getting directly involved in key projects or actively contributing to operational solutions, in close collaboration with other members of the Executive Committee.
The CEO will oversee the company's financial performance, the development of a corporate culture aligned with the company's values, and the strengthening of the partnership with cooperators to ensure the success of the sector's industrial plan objectives.

The CEO will be hired as an employee or self-employed. The position cannot be held by a legal entity.

Desired starting date: April 1, 2025

In order to meet the challenges of tomorrow, all public players in the Walloon water sector are organizing themselves for greater efficiency, in particular by setting up sector platforms and shared service centers that enable the pooling and specialization of expertise in several fields.

In terms of digitalization, the challenges facing the water sector are considerable, and require a sector-based approach to integrate the opportunities offered by digitalization into their activities, while controlling costs through the sharing of technological platforms and specialized resources.

It is against this backdrop that the digital company of Eaux de Wallonie (Digit'Eaux) was created at the end of 2022, in the form of a cooperative for the benefit of public water operators in Wallonia.
Digit'Eaux's objective is to provide IT services to public bodies active in Wallonia in the anthropic water cycle: from the protection of water catchments to wastewater treatment, via water production and distribution.

The 10 main public water operators in Wallonia are Digit'Eaux cooperators, with SWDE and SPGE, the majority shareholders, having transferred and entrusted all their IT activities to Digit'Eaux, and AIDE, CILE, IDEA, IDELUX Eau, In BW, IGRETEC, INASEP and IPALLE entrusting IT missions to Digit'Eaux according to their needs.
Cooperators can entrust services to Digit'Eaux without recourse to public procurement (in house), provided that their subsidiary complies with the law on public procurement when using third parties.
In order to provide Digit'Eaux's Board of Directors with relevant advice and recommendations on strategic orientations in terms of digitalization (choice of technological standards, analysis of technological trends and developments, etc.) and knowledge of the Walloon ecosystem in the digital sector to identify potential partners for Digit'Eaux to meet the needs of its operators in the water sector, a technological strategy committee has been set up with the participation of Pierre Rion, Mieke De Ketelaere and Axel Legay.

Services

Today, Digit'Eaux, with a staff of around forty, offers both infrastructure-related services and operates as a center of expertise for applications based on proven technological foundations.
In the field of IT services relating to infrastructure (hardware), Digit'Eaux is involved in the following areas in particular:

• Translate requirements and support hardware acquisition; 
• Manage and maintain IT systems and infrastructures;
• Manage network performance;
• Advise, facilitate and negotiate the acquisition and management of IT licenses;
• Ensure the IT security of the infrastructures it manages, or offer shared security consulting services (NIS-2).

Digit'Eaux's Application Expertise Center:

• Pilots new projects.
• Develops or supports the development and configuration of applications.
• Ensures the evolutionary and corrective maintenance of applications.

Generally speaking, Digit'Eaux handles new projects or complex change requests in partnership with external consultancy services and/or the software publisher. On the other hand, Digit'Eaux aims to ensure corrective and evolutionary maintenance by its own teams.
Wherever possible, application management is based on proven standards and technological foundations. This is particularly the case for ERP with the SAP software package, and more recently with ESRI for sector-specific GIS developments.
This applications center of expertise can be subdivided into 3 main families: 

SAP :

Digit'Eaux, thanks to developments previously carried out by SWDE, has developed genuine expertise in many SAP modules. The Digit'Eaux SAP team provides a centralized service center for the FI, CO, FM, HR, IS-U, S4CRM, MM, PM/CS, SD, IM, PS, PPM, MCF (Multi Channel Foundation), FIORI, Sap Mobile Platform, SuccessFactors Learning, FSM (Field Service Management), Enable Now, BTP (Business Technology Platform) and Solution Manager modules. These solutions are either hosted on-premise by Digit'Eaux cooperators, or in private or public clouds.

Business applications :

Alongside SAP, Digit'Eaux puts its skills and know-how at the service of its customers to design, develop, upgrade and maintain solutions for LIMS, SCADA, IOT, ...

Data :

This team covers all aspects of data management (datawarehouse, Business Intelligence, interfacing, document management, etc.). Thanks to their expertise in data analysis and their mastery of the SAP software suite, Digit'Eaux's key activities in this field include ETL, BI and ESB, most recently with the development of the SAP BTP platform.
The team is also involved in “spatial data”, with GIS and the implementation of a sector-wide GIS based on ESRI software for both water distribution and wastewater treatment.

5 Digit'eaux challenges

• Digital transformation: Drive the digital transformation of the water sector and be a driving force in proposing IT solutions incorporating innovative and advanced technologies (IoT, Big Data, AI, etc.).
• Developing services and solutions: Strengthen and optimize the current service offering while developing new shared solutions tailored to cooperators' needs, based as far as possible on technological standards.
• Strengthening partnerships: Working closely with all cooperators to meet their needs, and developing partnerships with key players in the sector.
• Financial management and performance: Diversify revenue sources and optimize management of internal resources to achieve profitability targets.
• Training and talent development: Invest in training and skills development, and implement strategies to attract and retain the best talent.

The CEO's main responsibilities will be to : 

• Strategy and Development
  • Implement the global strategy defined by the Board of Directors in conjunction with the sector platform bringing together operators' users and pooling tools, costs and resources.
  • Provide innovative ideas to guide the sector in its digital transformation.​​
• Management
  • Promote a culture of innovation, collaboration and respect for values, ensuring that employees are informed, interested, involved and inspired¹.
  • Lead day-to-day operations in close collaboration with the COO and CTO, and ensure that teams are mobilized around the company's objectives.
• IT expertise (in collaboration with the CTO and COO)
  • Oversee major IT projects, ensuring that solutions are optimized for the needs of cooperators, and promoting the pooling of developments.
  • Ensure that operational processes are well established, aligned with industry best practices and continuously optimized.
• Financial management
  • Guarantee the company's economic viability through rigorous cost management and optimization of resources.
  • Manage the preparation of budgets and the analysis of financial and non-financial statements.
  • Supervise offers made to cooperators and customers.
• Communication and Relations
  • Ensure smooth and effective communication within the company and represent the company at industry events.
  • Ensure and enhance the company's external image through the development of strong relationships with cooperators and other strategic partners.
• Customer Experience and Service Quality
  • Ensure the satisfaction of cooperators and other customers, and take into account feedback received with a view to constantly improving the quality of partnerships.
  • Foster cooperation and build trust with cooperators.
  • Set up performance indicators to assess the quality of services provided and take steps to improve them.
• Innovation and Technology Watch
  • Maintain an active technology watch to anticipate changes in the IT market and adapt the company's strategy accordingly.
  • Promote innovation while adopting technologies and practices that reduce the company's ecological footprint.
• IT Governance and Data Management (in collaboration with CISO)
  • Ensure the implementation of and compliance with IT governance policies, including cybersecurity and risk management (in particular the implementation of a DRP).
  • Ensure that the company adheres to data management and protection regulations, and adopts best practices in data confidentiality and security.

¹ : 4 KPI : Keep People Informed, Keep People Interested, Keep People Involved, Keep People Inspired

• Qualifications
  • Master's degree in computer science, engineering or management.
  • Fluency in French and English is required, and knowledge of other languages, particularly Dutch, is an asset.
• Managerial skills
  • Minimum of 10 years' recent and proven professional experience in the IT sector, including 5 years in a high-level management position.
  • Strong strategic planning and change management skills.
  • Inspirational leadership with a strong ability to lead, inspire, motivate and mobilize teams to meet the company's challenges.
• Technical skills
  • Expertise in IT, including infrastructure, information security and innovative technologies.
  • Technical and functional skills in ERP application standards (such as SAP) and/or GIS (such as ESRI) will be considered a plus.
• Financial Management
  • Expertise in financial management, including budget preparation and management, financial analysis and economic risk management.
• Sector knowledge
  • Knowledge of the water sector and its challenges, particularly in terms of digital transformation, may be considered a plus.
• Interpersonal skills
  • Excellent communication, interpersonal (teamwork) and negotiation skills, and strong commitment to professional and personal ethics.

The application must include :

• A cover letter and CV.
• A description of the candidate's expertise and skills for the CEO position.
• A presentation of his or her understanding of the mission and challenges.

1. Apply online below

When registering, please attach a structured cover letter describing your interest in the position and your experience in the field.
You should also attach your CV, taking care to ensure style and spelling, and summarize this information on a maximum of one A4 page (Arial 11). We recommend a .pdf format to ensure that your layout remains fixed when you open your document.

2. If the administrative requirements are met, you will be contacted for a telephone interview.

3. If the recruitment process continues, you will be invited to attend a job interview.

Communication with Digit'eaux is mainly by email. It may happen that emails sent to us end up in your Spam/Junk/Promotions box. To make sure you don't miss a step in the process, it's your responsibility to check them regularly.